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Perspectives
Using SCFA Percentage Distribution Patterns as Treatment Guides |
| Sep 28 2009 |
Specific SCFA% Distribution Patterns Can Serve as an Additional Measure of the Composition of Predominant Bacteria
In our previous communication, we highlighted the fascinating phenomenon of ‘metabolic cross-feeding’ as a means of explaining the diversity in patient response to prebiotics. This phenomenon essentially rests on the fact that complex microbial communities such as that found in the human gastrointestinal tract involve extensive metabolic interactions, where metabolic products produced from dietary prebiotics by one bacterial species may provide substrates to support the growth of other populations. Cross-feeding between bacterial species ultimately results in metabolic consequences that would not be predicted simply from the substrate preferences of isolated groups of bacteria. These interactions can lead to changes in the composition of predominant bacteria within the colon following the release of metabolic products such as short chain fatty acids (SCFAs).
The distribution of SCFAs can provide an additional means of assessing the composition and diversity of predominant bacteria. Abnormal SCFAs percentage distribution patterns such as that shown below for a 65 year old male; are an indication the patient may not possess certain species of bacteria which would normally metabolize non-digestable polysaccharides and oligosaccharides down to the major SCFAs such as butyrate, propionate, and valerate, which happen to be low in this patient.
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